Happy 4th of July from Canada!

We ended up leaving Index earlier than expected due to the funky camping scene and the fact that it was just too hot to really enjoy the climbing.  But before we left, we enjoyed some time in the river and Greg did a little “float”.  And by “float” I mean that he took his inner tube down a Class III section of the Skykomish River. 

We bounced out of Index and headed up to North Cascades National Park to climb in an area called Washington Pass.  Alix and Drew had scoped out a climb they wanted to do and we decided to tag along and continue our trend of partying up climbs as a group of 4.  The climb we did is called the West Face of North Early Winter Spire and goes at 5.11a with the crux pitch being an awesome, albeit very short, finger crack.  We had a leisurely day filled with avoiding habituated mountain goats, some brief snow walking, and some awesome climbing with friends.  The WA Pass area is gorgeous to boot.  To avoid another parking lot bivy we camped at Larrabee State Park, just south of Bellingham.  This gave us a chance to check out a cool place, be close to the border for crossing the next day, and most importantly, stock up at the last Trader Joe’s before we left the states.

I love this picture of Mark!

Tiny crab!

So now we are up here in Squamish, staying in our apartment in the Valleycliffe neighborhood.  It is awesome!  Greg and I spent yesterday morning at thrift stores and Wal-Mart and the place is looking a little homier.  We also have a view of the Chief from our balcony!  After completely monopolizing the laundry room yesterday we are almost all settled in and ready for two months in Squamish. 

This morning Mark and I wanted to do some mellow, classic climbing so we headed to the Apron and climbed Diedre, a six pitch 5.8 on the Chief.  We had a blast, probably should have packed some warmer clothes, and got directions to an awesome finger crack on the Grand Wall (still part of the Chief) from a friendly Canadian.  Granite cracks are awesome!  It was super nice to climb some easy terrain and get more comfortable placing gear again.  One of my main goals here is Squamish is to get a lot of mileage on 5.10 and under climbs placing gear.  I also want to get back into bouldering and get some power back.  We walked around the Grand Wall boulders yesterday and found a lot more slopers than crimps.  This sure ain't the Buttermilks.  But, I did find a sick crimpy problem I can't wait to get on.  Psyche is high!

The view from the top of the second pitch on Diedre

On the way back down to the car we passed by Dreamcatcher, a really hard and striking line on the Cacodemon boulder.  Mark was really excited to see it since watching a video of Sharma on it years ago got him super psyched on climbing. 

 Now we are going to get some ice cream (having a freezer is awesome!!!) and sneak in some evening bouldering.  Or we may just eat ice cream.  

xoxo Lauren and Mark